Bow Wood for selfbow (beginner)

[bigcountry]

Ok, I signed up for a selfbow class.  They will have hickory or osage staves.  But said I could get my own.  I thought about trying yew.  I seen some staves for sale on ****.  Is this a wood that is not for beginners?  

Or should I stick with hickory for first bow.

Would like to year opinions.  I like the springness of osage.  But know that its snakey.  I thought yew might be better?

[John Scifres]

I'd stick with osage or hickory.  Good yew is hard to find.  I'd not trust anything found on that auction site.  You are probably better off buying from the folks giving the class since they should stand behind it.

[Frank Warnke]

I have made some selfbows from ash with some instruction from books and videos.  If I had an instructor looking over my shoulder, I would go with the osage.

[George Tsoukalas]

Either one would be a good choice. Choose the osage. Osage needs to have a heartwood back which introduces a difficult step for a beginner. I'm helping a friend build an osage bow. One of the thickest rings is about 1/16 inch. We managed to not violate the back. Actually, we violated the back twice but avoided that problem area during layout. Since you will have someone looking over your shoulder, if I were you I would choose osage.  Jawge

[bigcountry]

I love osage, but always hear how hickory can be more forgiving for beginners.  I also worried that a snakey osage could be tough to tiller even.

I think i will go with the osage.

[Steve Kendrot]

Where is this self-bow class? In MD?

[brettlandon]

I would recomend hickory and agree with John to avoid purchasing staves (yew or otherwise) on encrypted auction site.  Good luck and happy shaving!
       

-Brett

[Pat B]

Either osage or hickory will make good bows. Stick with what the class has to offer. Since you live in MD, osage would give you less problems in your high humidity area. You will also learn more about wood bow building using the osage. Having to remove the bark and sapwood and chasing a ring for the back is gonna give you experience with the tools and the wood.    Pat

[bigcountry]

Pat, I was considering that.  I figured if I could work on an osage bow, that might give me the experience to work on a hickory bow later.  But working on a hickory might not give me the experience to work on an osage.  Does that make sense?

[Traxx]

I would Use the staves,that they are offering for the class.If they are experienced Bowyers,puttin on the class,I would think they would provide staves that are good for the beginner.

[John Scifres]

Does that make sense?

I'd say that is a fine way of looking at it.  Have fun.  Post pics.